SortStack #3279 — 2035-06-01

By price · Order from cheapest to most expensive.

1. A plain slice of pizza in New York City $3.00

   The 'Pizza Principle' holds that a NYC slice and a subway ride have cost roughly the same for decades — when one rises, the other tends to follow.

2. A new hardcover bestseller $30

   Hardcovers exist partly as price discrimination: publishers sell to eager fans at a premium first, then release the cheaper paperback a year later.

3. A one-day adult ticket to Disney World's Magic Kingdom $140

   When Disneyland opened in 1955, admission was one dollar — rides cost extra, paid with lettered coupons that gave us the phrase 'an E-ticket ride.'

4. An Xbox Series S console $349

   Microsoft has long sold consoles near or below manufacturing cost, betting on game sales and subscriptions to make the profit.

5. One F-35A stealth fighter jet $82.5M

   The pilot's helmet alone costs about $400,000 — it lets the pilot effectively see through the aircraft via cameras mounted around the fuselage.

6. The entire Apollo Moon program, in the dollars of its day $25.4B

   At its peak, Apollo employed about 400,000 people and consumed more than 4% of the US federal budget — per landing, each Moon mission cost less than a modern aircraft carrier.

← All puzzles · Play today’s SortStack